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From Transforming Cultures, a special issue on Music and the Production of Place. From Open Letters Monthly, a special section on music. Silence is golden: How a pause can be the most devastating effect in music. A review of George Gershwin by Walter Rimler. A review of Some Liked It Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928-1959 by Kristin A. McGee. A review of A Windfall of Musicians: Hitler's Emigres and Exiles in Southern California by Dorothy Lamb Crawford. More and more on Leonard Bernstein: The Political Life of an American Musician by Barry Seldes. A review of Sound Commitments: Avant-Garde Music and the Sixties. P.J. O'Rourke reviews books on Woodstock. A review of Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop by Adam Bradley. More on Greg Kot’s Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music. Jay Diamond on the realization that there is indeed a new world order in music. Rock music and novel-writing are both forms of storytelling; songs are snapshots compared to the grand panorama of a novel but in the hands of the best lyricists they can be little narrative jewels. A review of Antithetical Arts: On the Ancient Quarrel between Literature and Music by Peter Kivy. Behold the Man: Friedrich Nietzsche, composer. A review of books on Joseph Haydn. Opera’s coolest soprano: Danielle de Niese isn’t above flexing her voice to the beat of Beyonce. Is the opera house the last safe place to practice the pursuit of style?

A review of The Social Amoebae: The Biology of Cellular Slime Molds by John Tyler Bonner. Simon Schama reviews books on the collective societies and epic micro-universes occupied by insects. What do George W. Bush, Roy Orbison and Darth Vader have in common? All three have had new beetle species named after them. A review of The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists by Peter Laufer. Pigeons have long been maligned in favour of fancier fowl; don't they now deserve a reprieve? From Seed, six experts discuss the global fisheries crisis and what it will take to make fish stocks bounce back. A look at how "hippy" monkey muriqui is a killer when starved of sex. A review of The Hedgehog's Dilemma: A Tale of Obsession, Nostalgia, and the World's Most Charming Mammal by Hugh Warwick. A review of Dogs: History, Myth, Art by Catherine Johns. Why do we treat dogs and pigs so differently? The answer has to do with simple, mutual obligation. A review of Why Animal Suffering Matters: Philosophy, Theology, and Practical Ethics by Andrew Linzey. A review of The Wauchula Woods Accord: Toward a New Understanding of Animals by Charles Siebert (and more). Should species be relocated to prevent extinction? Here's a slide show of 10 ugly animals that need help, too. Constance Casey profiles the most disgusting animals you're ever likely to meet. An article on Japan as a nation of animal lovers — as pets or when they're on a plate. Here are the 6 most frequently quoted bullshit animal facts.